With the prevalence of cinematic universes taking over Hollywood, it’s only a matter of time before audiences are introduced to the cash-grab crossover film. Behind the scenes, directors Zack Snyder and J.J. Abrams have already been messing around with the concept, playfully combining the DC Extended Universe with Star Wars for years.
It actually began way back when the filmmakers were respectively working on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Before we knew how bad one of those films would be and how much of a nostalgia tickler the other was, Snyder and Abrams kept inserting the other’s franchise into their own with sly on-set cameos and mock concept art. It culminated with Abrams building a model of The Dark Knight’s Tumbler into the underside of the Millenium Falcon, and that was the end of it — or so we thought.
Two years later, with Rogue One about to be released, Snyder has taken it a step further by releasing his mock mash up trailer for Dark Side Knight v Super Jedi: Dawn of the Alliance. Proving that Snyder will never fail to put his crappy touch on a good thing, the video sees dialogue from the Star Wars series spoken over the original BvS teaser. Spliced throughout are some fancy special effects and re-edits that bring X-Wings and TIE-Fighters into the world of the DCEU. Essentially, Batman is painted as Darth Vader and Superman is Luke Skywalker, lightsabers and all. There’s even a changed bit of dialogue: “Tell me, do you embrace the Dark Side? You will.”
Now, of course it doesn’t all flow seamlessly, but you have to give props to the special effects that brought the Death Star into the Metropolis sky and replaced the Batwing with a TIE-Fighter. That said, one has to wonder how Marvel feels about seeing Bats take on the mantle of Darth Vader since they’re currently publishing a very-well received series of Star Wars comics. Plus, Bat in the Sun productions already did this crossover — and did it in a completely original and far better way — twice.
While Marvel figures out if it can sue and Warner Bros. tries to track down the Bat in the Sun guys’ phone number, check out Snyder’s Dark Side Knight v Super Jedi above.
